SOLDIERS INVOLVED in counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir are bleeding to death for want of life-saving kits to treat battle field injuries.

The army has failed to equip tens of thousands of troops with an adequate number of frontline haemorrhage control kits to stop excessive bleeding from combat injuries.

Official documents show that the Udhampur-based Northern Command, the nerve centre of the army’s counter-insurgency operations, has ordered just 850 pouches of a granular haemo static substance called QuikClot with proven clotting ability, in the last three years.

The army had no budgetary provision even for the small number of kits bought. These were procured out of the Army Commander’s special financial powers. The price of QuikClot works out to Rs 3,640 per unit.

It is a standard issue item for the US Marine Corps. American soldiers serving in Afghanistan and Iraq carry it as their preferred haemostatic agent.

“The army has failed to meet the urgent requirement of lifesaving kits demanded by Rashtriya Rifles (RR) units.

Haemorrhage is the leading cause of preventable death in combat,” said an officer from an RR unit, not authorised to speak to the media.

The Rashtriya Rifles forms the backbone of the army’s anti-insurgency operations. At any given time, close to one lakh soldiers are directly engaged in counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir, army sources said. The kits procured by the army are hardly enough for them.

A senior officer in the Army headquarters said that these kits had been provided to regimental medical officers and nursing assistants who accompanied soldiers. But officers in Kashmir said this was only a makeshift arrangement.

“The medics can’t be with you all the time. Soldiers have to be self sufficient,” said an officer.

Commanding officers realise they need to source haemostatic kits on their own to give soldiers the cutting edge of military medicine.

Many Rashtriya Rifles units have begun diverting regimental funds, collected from profits made from canteen sales, to enable soldiers to rapidly treat multiple wound sites and various wound types with a single packet of material.

The kit gives precious evacuation time to wounded soldiers before they can be treated at a hospital. The army has admitted that there is no substitute for QuikClot because of its exceptional haemorrhage-control features.

“We regularly send jawans to New Delhi to buy the kits from the only distributor in India. However, due to paucity of funds, we barely order two or three kits at a time.

Ideally a battalion should hold , a stock of at least 100 kits at any given time,” said another Rashtriya Rifles officer.

Over the last two years, Rashtriya Rifles units have purchased around 1,500 kits on their own.

Army fatalities have averaged around 100 a year for the past several years.

“It is an effective non-surgical method to stop bleeding that cannot be controlled by ordinary gauze or the Rakshak bandages used by us.

Every team that goes into an operation must carry it. We have saved many lives and many more could be saved if supplies improve,” said an army doctor posted in Kashmir.

Srinagar, March 30: Two militants and an Indian soldier were killed in separate gunfights in Kashmir on Monday.

A police spokesman said that the Indian army and policemen on specific information about the presence of militants laid siege around the Moshwara village in Kellar in South Kashmir on Monday morning. "While the soldiers were conducting combing and search operations, they came under a volume of fire from the militants. The fire was returned by the soldiers, triggering an encounter. In the ensuing gunfight, which lasted for four hours, two militants were killed," he said.

The identity of the slain militants and the outfit to which they owe allegiance could not be known.

The police spokesman said that an Indian army soldier, who was critically injured in a gunfight with militants at the Kamla forests in South Kashmir a few days back, has succumbed to his injuries. He identified the dead soldier as Rumpum Goji.

From what I can see, these kits are not standard-issue items for soldiers, hence the scarcity.

We have to live with the fact that we cannot afford to equip our troops like NATO troops. Our country cannot afford to spend so much on a single soldier. Still, I think it is well worth the money if these kits can dramatically reduce the casualties.

Yes flint what ever be the case but we should do something to help our brave soldier or if some body is doctor who can give some quick blood cloting methods which serving guys can pass on to the field will also help.

Real and Unsung Hero's of this countries never counted to be taken care off. This is exactly can be seen from above shortage of necessary Medical kit. Heck, when our government can't provide enough kits in the form of Shoes, Bullet Proof Jackets, Nutitious Food etc, then how the hell one can expect this soldiers must be equipped with proper life saving kits. Our media is more interested in Politicians, Bollywood, Fashion, Automobiles, that's it.

Real and Unsung Hero's of this countries never counted to be taken care off. This is exactly can be seen from above shortage of necessary Medical kit. Heck, when our government can't provide enough kits in the form of Shoes, Bullet Proof Jackets, Nutitious Food etc, then how the hell one can expect this soldiers must be equipped with proper life saving kits. Our media is more interested in Politicians, Bollywood, Fashion, Automobiles, that's it.

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Spot on. We are a perpetually developing country not for nothing!

It just mean the utter incompetence and even negligence of our society that it can not take care of the basic needs of the troops that are laying their lives for us. And guess what, it doesn't even cost that much. At least not as much as the darned "Indian Air force 1" or the bribes that exchange hands in every defense deal.

Some babu or neta should be hanged every time such negligence comes to light.